Sunday, March 31, 2019

Top 5 Bank Stocks To Buy Right Now

tags:AP,WFC,HSBA,FCF,CM,

Here are stocks that are in the news today:

Results on February 19: Valecha Engineering, Asahi Industries, Linde India, Imec Services, Shailja Commercial Trade.

Power Grid Corporation: Board accorded investment approval for 'Northern Region System Strengthening - XL' at an estimated cost of Rs 572.98 crore with commissioning schedule of 22 months from the date of investment approval.

Suditi Industries: Company executed the license contract with PSG Merchandising, a French simplified limited liability company. Accordingly they have granted company the right to use Paris Saint-Germain''s intellectual property rights for commercial purposes.

related news Stocks in the news: Dr Reddy's Labs, Tech Mahindra, Yes Bank, Jaypee Infratech, Wipro Stocks in the news: ONGC, Jet Airways, Glenmark, Tera Software, J Kumar, Kridhan Infra Stocks in the news: Ashok Leyland, NBCC, Yes Bank, CreditAccess, Trident, SREI Infra, Zee News

Cyient: Company launched its connected equipment offering for OEMs and equipment owners and operators.

Top 5 Bank Stocks To Buy Right Now: Ampco-Pittsburgh Corporation(AP)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By ]

    New York (AP) -- Demi Lovato has checked out of the hospital she was rushed to two weeks ago for a reported overdose.

    A person close to Lovato said she was released from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles over the weekend. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person wasn't allowed to speak publicly about the topic.

  • [By ]

    This undated photo provided by Edmunds, shows the 2018 Land Rover Discovery, which allows you to remotely fold the rear seats flat via a linked smartphone app. (Courtesy of Edmunds.com Inc. via AP) (Photo: AP)

  • [By ]

    Mexico City (AP) -- A powerful magnitude-7.2 earthquake shook south and central Mexico Friday, causing people to flee swaying buildings and office towers in the country's capital, where residents were still jittery after a deadly quake five months ago.

  • [By ]

    Durango, Colo. (AP) -- A growing wildfire burning in southwestern Colorado forced more people from their homes Sunday as crews tried to slow the blaze being fed by continued hot, dry and windy conditions.

  • [By ]

    Des Moines, Iowa (AP) -- It's been a billion-dollar lottery weekend after a lone Powerball ticket sold in New Hampshire matched all six numbers and will claim a $570 million jackpot, one day after another single ticket sold in Florida nabbed a $450 million Mega Millions grand prize.

Top 5 Bank Stocks To Buy Right Now: Wells Fargo & Company(WFC)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By ]

    TheStreet's founder and Action Alerts PLUS Portfolio Manager Jim Cramer is bracing for earnings on Friday from JPMorgan Chase (JPM) , Citigroup (C) and Wells Fargo (WFC) .

  • [By Matthew Frankel]

    After Wells Fargo's (NYSE:WFC) fake-accounts scandal was revealed in 2016, Buffett said that the bank remained a compelling long-term investment and that he had no plans to sell any of Berkshire's massive stake. At last year's meeting, Buffett reiterated that while the bank made a big mistake by incentivizing cross-selling, it still was a great company.

  • [By ]

    Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) hasn't had a shortage of scandals and embarrassment over the past few years. It's resulted in management changes, $1 billion fees and punishments from the Federal Reserve.

  • [By Matthew Frankel]

    Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) reported its second-quarter earnings Friday morning, and missed analysts' expectations on both the top and bottom lines. In addition, the bank's loan and deposit portfolios shrunk over the past year, and its profitability and efficiency both leave something to be desired. Here's a rundown of the numbers, and what they mean for investors.

  • [By Douglas A. McIntyre]

    The U.S. Department of Labor is looking into the 401(k) business of Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC). According to The Wall Street Journal:

    The Labor Department is examining whether Wells Fargo & Co. has been pushing participants in low-cost corporate 401(k) plans to roll their holdings into more expensive individual retirement accounts at the bank, according to a person familiar with the inquiry.

Top 5 Bank Stocks To Buy Right Now: HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBA)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Max Byerly]

    Credit Suisse Group set a GBX 720 ($9.32) price target on HSBC (LON:HSBA) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

  • [By Stephan Byrd]

    Morgan Stanley set a GBX 855 ($10.91) price target on HSBC (LON:HSBA) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    HSBC (LON:HSBA) had its target price lowered by equities research analysts at Shore Capital from GBX 721 ($9.60) to GBX 625 ($8.32) in a report issued on Tuesday. The brokerage presently has a “sell” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Shore Capital’s price objective indicates a potential downside of 14.71% from the company’s previous close.

  • [By Ethan Ryder]

    HSBC (LON:HSBA) had its price target dropped by equities research analysts at Citigroup from GBX 810 ($10.78) to GBX 800 ($10.65) in a report released on Tuesday. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price target points to a potential upside of 9.59% from the stock’s previous close.

  • [By Max Byerly]

    HSBC Holdings plc (LON:HSBA) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the sixteen analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have issued a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is GBX 768.33 ($9.80).

Top 5 Bank Stocks To Buy Right Now: First Commonwealth Financial Corporation(FCF)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on First Commonwealth Financial (FCF)

    For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

  • [By Ethan Ryder]

    Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on First Commonwealth Financial (FCF)

    For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on First Commonwealth Financial (FCF)

    For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on First Commonwealth Financial (FCF)

    For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

Top 5 Bank Stocks To Buy Right Now: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce(CM)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Motley Fool Transcribers]

    Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE:CM)Q3 2018 Earnings Conference CallAug. 23, 2018, 8:00 a.m. ET

    Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks:

    Operator

  • [By Logan Wallace]

    Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (TSE:CM) (NYSE:CM) – Analysts at Desjardins reduced their Q2 2018 earnings per share estimates for Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, May 2nd. Desjardins analyst D. Young now forecasts that the company will post earnings of $2.85 per share for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $2.86.

  • [By Motley Fool Transcribing]

    Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE:CM) Q1 2019 Earnings Conference CallFeb. 28, 2019 8:00 a.m. ET

    Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks:

    Operator

  • [By Max Byerly]

    Her Majesty the Queen in Right of the Province of Alberta as represented by Alberta Investment Management Corp boosted its position in Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE:CM) (TSE:CM) by 54.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 911,300 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 320,800 shares during the quarter. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce comprises approximately 1.0% of Her Majesty the Queen in Right of the Province of Alberta as represented by Alberta Investment Management Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of the Province of Alberta as represented by Alberta Investment Management Corp’s holdings in Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce were worth $103,633,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

  • [By Logan Wallace]

    A number of firms have modified their ratings and price targets on shares of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (TSE: CM) recently:

    6/6/2018 – Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was upgraded by analysts at Citigroup Inc from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating. They now have a C$130.00 price target on the stock, up previously from C$125.00. 5/24/2018 – Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was downgraded by analysts at National Bank Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating. They now have a C$124.00 price target on the stock, down previously from C$136.00. 5/24/2018 – Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce had its price target lowered by analysts at Scotiabank from C$131.00 to C$127.00. They now have a “sector perform” rating on the stock. 5/24/2018 – Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce had its price target lowered by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from C$141.00 to C$135.00. They now have a “sector perform” rating on the stock. 5/24/2018 – Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was given a new C$140.00 price target on by analysts at Eight Capital. 5/24/2018 – Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce had its price target raised by analysts at Barclays PLC from C$133.00 to C$138.00.

    CM traded up C$0.59 on Wednesday, reaching C$115.86. 987,570 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,290,708. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has a fifty-two week low of C$103.84 and a fifty-two week high of C$124.37.

Monday, March 25, 2019

5 Top Stock Trades for Wednesday: AMD, Nvidia, Amazon

Stocks were driving higher yet again on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 flirting with overbought territory going into Wednesday. However, it coughed up its gains going into the close. Keep in mind, the Federal Reserve will have an interest rate decision and press conference on Wednesday afternoon. Let’s look at Tuesday’s top stock trades.

Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow #1: Advanced Micro Devices

top stock trades for AMDtop stock trades for AMD

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) are erupting on Tuesday, up over 11% on the day after a video game announcement from Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL, NASDAQ:GOOG) propelled AMD’s breakout even higher.

Now over $25, AMD is hurdling a key level and the stock isn’t even overbought yet. Traders who were long coming into the day should trail up their stop-losses. Prospective buyers should watch AMD Wednesday morning. If AMD has a small to modest pullback on Wednesday and $25 holds, it may be an advantageous buying opportunity.


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Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow #2: Nvidia

top stock trades for Nvidiatop stock trades for Nvidia

Keeping in the chip space, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) stock is also rallying. However, it’s on the back of the company’s GTC Keynote presentation on Monday evening. With Tuesday’s ~4.5% rally, NVDA stock is easily over $170 and hitting new highs for 2019.

While NVDA is more overbought than AMD, neither is near a concerning level for longs yet. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Nvidia continue higher, so long as the Fed doesn’t derail the market rally on Wednesday.

On the downside, I would like to see $170 hold as support. Should it fail, look for the $162.50 area to provide support, along with the 20-day moving average. On a further rally, investors can target $188, the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement for the 52-week range. Up near $197 fills the earnings gap from back in November, while the 200-day is up near $209.


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Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow #3: Amazon

top stock trades for AMZNtop stock trades for AMZN

Last week we highlighted a potential breakout in Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and so far this week, we’re getting a big move in Amazon. I didn’t expect that much of a rally, at least in just two trading sessions.

If Amazon continues higher from current levels, $1,850 could be on deck. Should we pullback, look to see that the 200-day moving average acts as support. If it does, longs are still okay. Those who came in long should trail up stops and/or book some gains if they’re only trading for the short term.


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Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow #4: Chipotle Mexican Grill

top stock trades for CMGtop stock trades for CMG

Shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) have been fire, rallying roughly 75% from its December lows.

As much as I love to let the winners “ride higher,” investors should surely consider taking some gains off the table now. At the very least, they should trail up their stops. The stock is overbought and definitely extended. That doesn’t mean it can’t keep running, but the risk/reward does not favor new longs.

Short-term buyers can consider buying a pullback to $640, while more conservative bulls will want to wait for a test of the 20-day. The latter is what I want to see.


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Top Stock Trades for Tomorrow #5: Fiat Chrysler

top stock trades for FCAUtop stock trades for FCAU

An M&A rumor sent Fiat Chrysler (NYSE:FCAU) higher by 4.5%, however shares are running into the 10-week moving average on the long-term chart.

On the plus side, $14 held as support and if FCAU can push through the 10-week moving average, perhaps it can gather some bullish momentum. If it can, Fiat stock may run to $17 before running into resistance. Even if that’s the case, we’re still talking about a ~13% return. Not too shabby.

Below $14 and I’m concerned for FCAU.

Bret Kenwell is the manager and author of Future Blue Chips and is on Twitter @BretKenwell. As of this writing, Bret Kenwell is long AMZN, GOO

Sunday, March 24, 2019

The Money Lori Loughlin Used To Allegedly Bribe USC Coaches Could've Made Olivia Jade An Olympian

&l;p&g;&l;img class=&q;dam-image ap size-large wp-image-9e5b70ca25934406957d88939172f6df&q; src=&q;https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/dam/imageserve/9e5b70ca25934406957d88939172f6df/960x0.jpg?fit=scale&q; data-height=&q;722&q; data-width=&q;960&q;&g; Lori Loughlin poses with her daughter Olivia Jade Giannulli, left, at the 2019 &q;An Unforgettable Evening&q; in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Yesterday, &l;em&g;People&l;/em&g; magazine reported that Olivia Jade has &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://people.com/tv/lori-loughlin-olivia-jade-not-returning-to-usc-scandal/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;&a;ldquo;no plans&a;rdquo;&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g; to return to USC at the end of her spring break. This week, her mother, &l;em&g;Full House&l;/em&g; actress Lori Loughlin was released on a $1 million bail after surrendering to the authorities. Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli (who was also charged and released on bail) were charged with paying $500,000 to get their two daughters into USC by bribing coaches to designate them as athletic recruits for the crew team&a;mdash;despite neither girl rowing competitively.

The Giannullis have a combined estimated net worth of $88 million, &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/richest-designers/mossimo-giannulli-net-worth/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;$80 million of which comes from Mr. Giannulli&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g;, whose clothing company, Mossimo, was &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;http://articles.latimes.com/2000/mar/29/news/mn-13836&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;licensed to Target in 2000&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g;. This net worth makes the Giannullis one-percenters, but not at the level of, say, the Kushners (who are estimated to be worth &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2016/12/18/jared-josh-kushner-fortune-donald-trump-real-estate/&q;&g;$1.8 billion&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g;), making it more feasible to legally donate the millions of dollars it took to &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherrim/2018/10/24/can-you-buy-your-way-into-harvard/&q;&g;facilitate Jared Kushner&a;rsquo;s admission to Harvard&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g;. It&a;rsquo;s possible that the Giannullis could have managed to donate $5 million or so to USC, but that kind of legal donation isn&a;rsquo;t a &a;lsquo;sure thing&a;rsquo; and still requires the student to be relatively qualified for the school. Still, there are other ways that any pair of 1%ers can spend their money that is ethical&a;mdash;and would instill stronger values in their children in the long-term.

Instead of bribing coaches to lie about your children&a;rsquo;s athletic ability, why not invest in developing that ability? The majority of families who have at least $25k in assets and have a child who plays sports pay between $1,200 and $6,000 per year on athletic training and other sports expenses. The high end, making up &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/09/05/why-families-stretch-their-budgets-high-priced-youth-sports/571945001/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;8% of these parents, paid more than $24,000 per year per child&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g;. With Lori Loughlin&a;rsquo;s $250,000-per-daughter budget, that&a;rsquo;s ten years of high-end training, coaching, and equipment that could have turned her daughters into all-star athletes. One Olympian, former U.S. speed skater Eric Flaim who is a two-time silver medalist,&l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cost-of-being-an-olympic-athlete_n_1760687&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g; estimated that his decade-plus of training and competing cost about $250,000&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g;. This roughly matches &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.wired.com/2016/08/really-hard-make-money-olympian/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;this article&a;rsquo;s&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g; estimates about the cost of Olympic training for most sports&a;mdash;and moreover, there are Olympians who trained on the streets (maybe not ice skaters) and rose to success with no monetary support from their families.

Olivia Jade didn&a;rsquo;t even have to be Olympic-level talented at a sport to get recruited to USC, either&a;mdash;but there&a;rsquo;s one component missing here, and that&a;rsquo;s time and effort. This college admissions cheating scandal, at its heart, is about parents trying to help their children take the &a;lsquo;easy way out.&a;rsquo; Taking the high road takes time and hard work in addition to money&a;mdash;but supporting your child in their athletic endeavors sets up them up for success in college and beyond. Participating in sports throughout childhood &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/10/10/childrens-sportslife-balance/sports-teach-kids-valuable-lessons&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;helps them build character&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g;, teaches them how to fail and rebound from mistakes, how to be resilient, and how to work in a team. &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/10/21/taking-sports-out-of-school-2/high-school-athletes-gain-lifetime-benefits&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Studies have shown&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g; that former student-athletes tend to get better jobs with better pay, their managers find that they have greater confidence and leadership abilities, and they are &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/how-sports-may-focus-the-brain/?mtrref=www.google.com&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;better able to focus&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g;.

That being said, if your daughter isn&a;rsquo;t interested in sports, don&a;rsquo;t push her in that direction&a;mdash;either in reality or in a fiction you bribe coaches to create. My philosophy is that students should pursue their true passions and take them to the &a;lsquo;next level&a;rsquo;&a;mdash;and it seems like that&a;rsquo;s exactly what Olivia Jade has been doing. She&a;rsquo;s interested in makeup and creating YouTube videos, and she&a;rsquo;s been successful at it. Her makeup line was even being sold in Sephora&a;mdash;until &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/03/226932/olivia-jade-sephora-makeup-palette-backlash&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;they pulled it from stores in the wake of this scandal.&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g; And it&a;rsquo;s not as though the Giannullis are strangers to putting other goals before college&a;mdash;it seems that &l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a26844879/who-is-mossimo-giannulli/&q; target=&q;_blank&q;&g;Mossimo Giannulli himself dropped out of USC to pursue his fashion designing&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g; dreams. But somewhere along the way, it seems that the Giannullis decided that bragging rights and their own egos were more important than the true aspirations (&l;span&g;&l;a href=&q;https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherrim/2019/03/12/the-worst-crime-in-college-admissions-history-exemplifies-the-worst-parenting&q;&g;and mental/emotional wellbeing)&l;/a&g;&l;/span&g; of their children.&l;/p&g;

Friday, March 22, 2019

This Internet Stock Is Tearing Up a $300 Billion Market

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Michael A. RobinsonMichael A. Robinson

This month marks the 30th anniversary of one of the more important tech platforms ever invented.

It's become so vital to the world that standard buzz words like "cutting-edge, "next-gen" or "game changer" just don't do it justice.

I believe calling it revolutionary comes closest.

After all, we're talking about technology that literally has impacted almost every facet of our daily lives. This is where billions of us go to get news and information, do our shopping, watch movies, play games, and even find love.

Of course, I'm talking about the World Wide Web, now just called the web for short.

Here's the thing. The web has been so pivotal for modern society that it boasts one of the fastest adoption rates in human history.

We're talking 1.8 billion websites and nearly that many people as online users.

And today, I'm going to reveal a great hidden play on the unstoppable force that the web represents.

It's an internet stock with huge upside ahead…

Check it out…

The Big Picture

Let me be clear on one thing. The inventor of the web, Tim Berners-Lee, has recently been critical of the system he is credited with creating in late March of 1989.

Don't get me wrong. I agree with Berners-Lee that the web has problems. We have lots of cyber thieves out there, and hate speech can be quickly spread.

But that critique misses the big picture. The internet spread faster around the world than the adoption of electricity in the 1900s precisely because it does so much good for so many people.

Consider that half the world's population of 7 billion people today is already online. That figure includes folks connected by desktop, laptop and mobile device access.

5G Could Mint a New Wave of Millionaires: The greatest tech shift in generations could be about to create untold wealth for investors. To find out how you could capture a life-changing SIX-figure windfall, go here now.

The full economic impact likely measures well into the trillions. Here's a data point to prove that: just the e-commerce portions of web usage will be worth $735.4 billion by 2023, according to data compiled by Statista.

And that's creating unprecedented investing opportunities.

Everyone Needs a Website

Now, when most investors think of internet stocks today, it's usually the FANGs – Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq:FB), Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq:AMZN), Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq:NFLX) and Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOGL).

Yes, those firms have combined market caps of nearly $2.3 trillion. But that barely scratches the surface of what's happening with web technology today.

Fact is, nearly every business or organization in the advanced world now has or is going to launch a website. We're talking nearly every company, government agency, political group, college and university, not to mention millions of self-employed professionals.

There's just one problem here. Designing and launching a website sophisticated enough to meet today's exacting standards is not for the faint of heart.

I speak from deep experience. In the early 2000s, my wife and I launched a website designed to combat online music piracy.

We had two important takeaways:

It was a very effective political tool that garnered quite a bit of press for our cause. Stopnapster.com was ugly and rudimentary – but still consumed countless hours of our time.

Magnify that by 1,000 fold, and you get a sense of the complexity of modern web design.

There can be thousands of lines of code that can cause problems. Plus, you have the potential for dozens of broken links that will drive clients away so frustrated they never come back.

And let's not forget the simple fact that most folks just don't have the time or the artistic ability to make their websites not just functional, but pleasing to the eye as well.

That's why a firm that develops and maintains websites for their clients could be so lucrative in today's environment.

Join the conversation. Click here to jump to comments…

Michael A. RobinsonMichael A. Robinson

About the Author

Browse Michael's articles | View Michael's research services

Michael A. Robinson is one of the top financial analysts working today. His book "Overdrawn: The Bailout of American Savings" was a prescient look at the anatomy of the nation's S&L crisis, long before the word "bailout" became part of our daily lexicon. He's a Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer and reporter, lauded by the Columbia Journalism Review for his aggressive style. His 30-year track record as a leading tech analyst has garnered him rave reviews, too. Today he is the editor of the monthly tech investing newsletter Nova-X Report as well as Radical Technology Profits, where he covers truly radical technologies – ones that have the power to sweep across the globe and change the very fabric of our lives – and profit opportunities they give rise to. He also explores "what's next" in the tech investing world at Strategic Tech Investor.

… Read full bio

Thursday, March 21, 2019

Dairy Queen Free Cone Day 2019: How to Get Yours!

Dairy Queen has announced its annual Free Cone Day once again, offering ice cream to anyone who shows up at a participating location.

Dairy Queen Free Cone DayDairy Queen Free Cone DayThe frozen treats maker rolls out the promotion on the first day of spring each year, which lands on Wednesday, March 20 this time around. While some regions of the country will still have cold temperatures, the business hopes that ice cream lovers will show up to express their gratitude for the changing of the seasons.

Dairy Queen said that those who show up to non-mall locations that are part of the promotion will get a free small vanilla cone with a limit of one per customer. In addition to giving out the yummy snacks, the restaurant is hoping consumers will give back as DQ will be collecting donations for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, a non-profit that raises funds for children’s hospitals and medical research.

“We love that our tradition of Free Cone Day has become synonymous with return of warmer weather and bringing people together,” Maria Hokanson, executive vice president of marketing, said. “We know the start of soft-serve season brings joy to our fans, and we can’t wait to help spread smiles.”

Beyond Free Cone Day, Dairy Queen is giving ice cream fans a small regular or dipped cone for 50 cents if they order through the chain’s mobile app. The offer applies from March 21 through March 31.

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Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Hot Penny Stocks For 2019

tags:PTI,RIG,YRCW,SIRI,

Why do you trade?

It is important to understand the true drivers behind why you trade the markets. The answer is different for everyone. We all have different circumstances, wants, wishes and desires.

Find yours.

Below are common reasons people get involved:

Entertainment Gambling Staying informed about economic and political developments Intellectual pursuit and curiosity Side income Primary income Advising friends and family Professionally managing a fund

Your reasons influence how you attack markets. For example, people managing their own wealth might prioritize account growth over shallow drawdowns, whereas the individual looking to run money professionally will need to focus on risk control. Then you have the gamblers who will undboudtedely gravitate towards penny stocks and out-of-the-money options.

Your reasons for trading also greatly influence the amount of time and energy you will need to commit to the markets. Simply placing trades and having fun without regard to your profits and losses will take a few minutes a week. On the other hand, launching a fund will take all your time and energy just like any other business startup.

Hot Penny Stocks For 2019: Patni Computer Systems Limited(PTI)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Chris Lange]

    Proteostasis Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: PTI) saw its shares slide early on Thursday after the company reported that it had positive data from its early stage trial in cystic fibrosis (CF). These results come from the firm's ongoing Phase 1 dosing study of PTI-801 in CF patients on background Orkambi (lumacaftor/ivacaftor) therapy.

Hot Penny Stocks For 2019: Transocean Inc.(RIG)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Paul Ausick]

    Offshore drilling services company Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) announced Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire competitor Ocean Rig UDW Inc. (NASDAQ: ORIG) in a deal valued at $2.7 billion. Transocean will pay approximately $2.7 billion for Ocean Rig, including $12.75 and 1.6128 shares of newly issued Transocean stock for each share of Ocean Rig.

  • [By Motley Fool Transcribers]

    Transocean Ltd  (NYSE:RIG)Q4 2018 Earnings Conference CallFeb. 19, 2019, 9:00 a.m. ET

    Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks:

    Operator

  • [By Stephan Byrd]

    Stock analysts at BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Transocean (NYSE:RIG) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, The Fly reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $18.00 price target on the offshore drilling services provider’s stock. BTIG Research’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 55.31% from the stock’s current price.

  • [By John Bromels]

    Unless it's not. Which it may not be. There's a big cloud of uncertainty hanging over the company, in part thanks to its status as a very small fish in a very big deepwater ocean that's full of huge, hungry competitors like Transocean (NYSE:RIG) and Ensco (NYSE:ESV). Questions also abound about its parent company, Seadrill (NYSE:SDRL).

Hot Penny Stocks For 2019: YRC Worldwide Inc.(YRCW)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Joseph Griffin]

    Formula Growth Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of YRC Worldwide Inc (NASDAQ:YRCW) by 300.0% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 600,000 shares of the transportation company’s stock after purchasing an additional 450,000 shares during the quarter. Formula Growth Ltd.’s holdings in YRC Worldwide were worth $6,030,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

  • [By Rich Smith]

    Shares of trucker YRC Worldwide (NASDAQ:YRCW) leapt more than 11% in early trading Wednesday and are still up a respectable 9.7% as of 11:45 a.m. EDT. You can thank Deutsche Bank for that.

  • [By Shane Hupp]

    YRC Worldwide Inc (NASDAQ:YRCW) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders bought 1,318 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 791% compared to the typical daily volume of 148 put options.

  • [By Rich Smith]

    It's boom times for the American trucking industry, with companies like JB Hunt and Old Dominion Freight Line enjoying 20%-plus sales growth (and even greater profits growth) in their most recent quarters. One company left out in the cold so far, however, has been rival trucker YRC Worldwide (NASDAQ:YRCW), which last quarter saw sales inch up just 5% -- and profits plummet 24% -- despite strong demand for trucking services across the country.

  • [By Logan Wallace]

    Get a free copy of the Zacks research report on YRC Worldwide (YRCW)

    For more information about research offerings from Zacks Investment Research, visit Zacks.com

Hot Penny Stocks For 2019: Sirius XM Radio Inc.(SIRI)

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Jon C. Ogg]

    Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is a company that thrives on of new car sales. If you have had satellite radio and are not solely reliant on what you get for music in streaming or your library, then chances are pretty good that you won’t want to go back to just having old-fashioned FM/AM radio.

  • [By Rick Munarriz]

    Last week was a busy one for Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ:SIRI) investors tracking Wall Street moves. The week kicked off with Barclays analyst Kannan Venkateshwar downgrading the stock and the stock of its controlling stakeholder, Liberty SiriusXM (NASDAQ:LSXMA). Two days later it was James Goss at Barrington upgrading Sirius XM stock.

  • [By Rick Munarriz]

    At least one bull is growing more bullish on Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ:SIRI). Bank of America/Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif just boosted her share price target on the satellite radio giant from $7 to $8. She's encouraged by the healthy pace of new car sales in the country -- the lifeblood of Sirius, as new vehicles put it in front of potential new subscribers. 

Sunday, March 17, 2019

Ground Turkey Recall 2019: Butterball, Kroger, Food Lion Brands Affected

A ground turkey recall 2019 list has several brands possibly being infected with salmonella schwarzengrund.

Ground Turkey Recall 2019: Butterball, Kroger, Food Lion Brands AffectedGround Turkey Recall 2019: Butterball, Kroger, Food Lion Brands AffectedSource: Shutterstock

The ground turkey recall 2019 list includes three different brands. These are Butterball, Kroger (NYSE:KR) and Food Lion. All of the turkey that is a part of this recall is made by Butterball. It was also all produced on July 7, 2018 and sold at stores across the U.S.

The following products are on the ground turkey recall 2019 list.

48-oz. plastic wrapped tray containing “BUTTERBALL everyday Fresh Ground Turkey WITH NATURAL FLAVORING (85% LEAN/15% FAT)” with sell or freeze by date of 7/26/18, lot code 8188, and UPC codes 22655-71555 or 22655-71557 represented on the label. 48-oz. plastic wrapped tray containing “BUTTERBALL everyday Fresh Ground Turkey WITH NATURAL FLAVORING (93% LEAN/7% FAT)” with sell or freeze by date of 7/26/18, lot code 8188 and UPC code 22655-71556 represented on the label. 16-oz. plastic wrapped tray containing “BUTTERBALL everyday Fresh Ground Turkey WITH NATURAL FLAVORING (85% LEAN/15% FAT)” with sell or freeze by date of 7/26/18, lot code 8188 and UPC code 22655-71546 represented on the label. 16-oz. plastic wrapped tray containing “BUTTERBALL everyday Fresh Ground Turkey WITH NATURAL FLAVORING (93% LEAN/7% FAT)” with sell or freeze by date of 7/26/18, lot code 8188 and UPC codes 22655-71547 or 22655-71561 represented on the label 48-oz. plastic wrapped tray containing “Kroger GROUND TURKEY FRESH 85% LEAN – 15% FAT” with sell or freeze by date of 7/26/18, lot code 8188, and UPC code 111141097993 represented on the label. 48-oz. plastic wrapped tray containing “FOOD LION 15% fat ground turkey with natural flavorings” with sell or freeze by date of 7/26/18, lot code 8188 and UPC code 3582609294 represented on the label.

Customers can follow this link to learn more about the ground turkey recall 2019 news.

As of this writing, William White did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

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Thursday, March 14, 2019

Apple’s Streaming Venture Is a Distraction for Roku Stock

Although I’ve helped InvestorPlace readers successfully navigate Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU), I still find shares difficult to decipher. Less than a year-and-a-half has passed since the company’s initial public offering, yet the ROKU stock price traveled all over the map.

Apple’s Streaming Venture Is a Distraction for Roku StockApple’s Streaming Venture Is a Distraction for Roku StockSource: Shutterstock

The trailing six months provide a telling example of the volatility you can expect with the streaming-TV equipment provider. From an all-time record high in October last year to a devastating multi-year low less than 90 days later, ROKU stock at least keeps traders busy, and employed.

However, some analysts believe that the choppiness may soon fade. With Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) probably on the verge of announcing its video-streaming service, it has added incentive to market Airplay 2. A proprietary system, Airplay facilitates audio or video streaming from an Apple product to a different device.

The second iteration of this technology expands this capacity to include several non-Apple brands, such as Samsung and Sony (NYSE:SNE). But Roku was left out in the cold. Of course, as a comparative minnow, losing such a high-profile partnership levered an exponential impact. Unsurprisingly, the ROKU stock price took it on the chin.

But with Apple needing to establish credibility in the content space, a partnership with ROKU makes sense. Recent rumors indicate that the two companies are on the verge of inking a deal. If so, Roku-armed T.V.’s can stream content via an iPhone, iPad or Mac computer, generating an instant value-add.

On the surface level, this is the type of fundamental driver that should sustainably and consistently drive the ROKU stock price. But after gaining 4% on the news, shares have more than given up that burst of profitability. How then should investors proceed?

Apple Streaming Is No Panacea for ROKU stock

In my last write-up about Roku, I had confidence that a strong showing for its fourth-quarter fiscal 2018 earnings report could spike shares. We got exactly that, and like clockwork, the streaming-equipment provider launched into low-earth orbit.

At the same time, I urged readers not to chase the ROKU stock price. Shares had already gone berserk prior to the Q4 report. After management disclosed their earnings beat, the company became even more of a unicorn. Year-to-date, the upstart streamer has skyrocketed over 137%.

Unfortunately, unicorns aren’t real. While the fundamentals support ROKU stock — the company’s user base has increased dramatically and productively — we’ve seen this before. I worry that the good news has been priced in. That means shares are rising based largely on emotion, such as the “fear of missing out,” or FOMO.

I’m going to stick with my last assessment: I encourage you to miss out, at least at this price point.


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Primarily, I don’t see Apple’s streaming overtures as a panacea for Roku. For one thing, Android operating systems dominate mobile market share. Therefore, you’re talking about a necessarily limited market for Apple. From Roku’s perspective, they need to expand in total numbers, and not just with revenue-per-user.

Plus, Apple doesn’t really offer anything compelling or groundbreaking with its newfound original-content venture. Although it has aggressively courted executive, acting and directing talent to kickstart their entertainment enterprise, they’re way behind the curve.

Of course, Apple being Apple, they’re likely to throw their vast riches into the content and streaming space. But even then, I go back to my original concern about Roku: nothing new or exciting exists to justify the excess in the ROKU stock price.

As a result, I’d rather stay on the sidelines until a better opportunity arises.

Don’t Feed Your Emotions

If you take a look at Roku’s long-term chart, you’ll unmistakably recognize a pattern of sharp peaks and valleys. You don’t have to be a technical analyst — or even believe in the technical approach — to recognize that this is an emotional stock.

Specifically regarding Apple and the Airplay deal, Roku dropped nearly double digits on a single day when Apple apparently snubbed the streaming company. Later, it jumped significantly when AAPL relented, only to give up those gains 24 hours later.

Clearly, this isn’t about Airplay. Instead, most of the markets are reacting emotionally to any noteworthy news or even rumors. Don’t get me wrong: I think ROKU has serious upside potential. It just needs a reality check before it gets there.

As of this writing, Josh Eno

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Team Inc (TISI) Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript

Logo of jester cap with thought bubble.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Team Inc  (NYSE:TISI)Q4 2018 Earnings Conference CallMarch 13, 2019, 10:00 a.m. ET

Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Q4 2018 Team, Inc. Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session, and instructions for how to participate will follow at that time. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.

I would now like to introduce your host for today's conference, Mr. Don Bleasdell, Vice President of Finance. Sir, you may begin.

Don Bleasdell -- Vice President, Finance

Thank you, Jimmy, and welcome everyone to Team's fourth quarter fiscal year 2018 conference call.

With me on today's call are Amerino Gatti, the Company's Chief Executive Officer, and our new Chief Financial Officer, Susan Ball. This call is also being webcast and can be accessed through the audio link under the Investor Relations section of our website at teaminc.com.

Information recorded on this call speaks only as of today, March the 13th, 2019. Therefore, please be advised that any time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the date of any replay or transcript. There will be a replay of today's call, and it will be available via webcast by going to the Company's website, teaminc.com. In addition, a telephonic replay will be available until March the 20th. The information on how to access these replay features was provided in yesterday's earnings release.

Before we continue, I'd like to remind you that this call contains forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities and Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements of expectations, future events or future financial performance. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, and we caution investors that a number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements.

These factors and other risks and uncertainties are described in detail on the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K, and in the Company's other documents and reports filed or furnished with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements except as maybe required by law.

Amerino will begin by providing an update on our business. Susan will then detail our results. And before we take your questions, Amerino will highlight our OneTEAM progress and market outlook.

Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Amerino. Amerino?

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

Thank you, Don, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us today. Before I begin, I would like to formally introduce our new Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Susan Ball. He joined us in December. Prior to joining Team, Susan served more than 12 years at CVR Energy in various roles of increasing responsibility, including Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. She brings more than 30 years of experience in finance and accounting, and in just a short time has become a valuable addition to our leadership team.

I will now start with our consolidated results. Consolidated revenues for the fourth quarter were $310 million compared to $316 million in the prior year quarter, which was down primarily due to lower activity in our Mechanical Services segment, and was partially offset by higher activity levels in the Quest Integrity and Inspection and Heat Treating segments. As mentioned during the previous call, year-over-year revenue growth was challenged due to non-recurring surge activity from Hurricane Harvey in Q4 '17, coupled with higher refinery utilization rates in Q4 '18.

Fourth quarter gross margin improved 180 basis points over the same period last year. The improvement was a result of the continued strength of our Quest Integrity segment and realized benefits from our ongoing cost reduction pillars of the OneTEAM program. Fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA of $24.5 million increased 5%, from $23.4 million in the same period last year on lower revenues.

We are pleased with the progress we made in 2018. We delivered on each of our key performance objectives, to improve safety, grow EBITDA, and increase free cash flow generation. Some of these full year highlights as compared to 2017 include, revenues of $1.25 billion, an increase of 4%; adjusted EBITDA increased by 37%; free cash flow increased by $65 million; CapEx spend reduced by 26%; and finally, our bank leverage ratio improved to 2.6 times at the end of 2018 compared to 3.5 times at the end of 2017.

Full year 2018 revenue improvements were led by our two inspection and assessment segments. Inspection and Heat Treating and Quest Integrity, which were up 5% and 19% respectively. Mechanical Services revenue was relatively flat when compared to the prior year. Taking into account the impact of shutting down under-performing districts, Mechanical Services revenue was up 1%.

Full year adjusted EBITDA improved 37% to $72 million, up from $53 million a year ago. All three segments delivered higher revenues and improved adjusted EBITDA for the full year with Quest Integrity leading the way. Team remains focused on capital discipline and cash flow management.

We delivered strong cash flow in Q4 2018, with a record quarterly free cash flow of $29 million, representing a year-over-year improvement of $43 million. For the full year of 2018, we generated $15 million of free cash flow, which is a $65 million improvement over the prior year. We are extremely pleased that we exceeded our previously disclosed target of generating positive free cash flow for the year. In the fourth quarter, we paid down an additional $26 million of debt. We remain committed to paying down debt with available free cash flow.

Now, I will review our full year performance by segment. The Inspection and Heat Treating segment delivered full year 2018 revenues of $617 million, a 5% increase over $588 million in 2017. Full year adjusted EBITDA was $60 million, or 12% higher than the $54 million in 2017. This segment has now delivered four consecutive quarters of year-over-year revenue growth.

The Mechanical Services segment delivered full year 2018 revenues of $532 million, slightly higher than the $530 million in 2017. Full year 2018 adjusted EBITDA was $47 million, an increase of 5% when compared to $45 million in 2017. This segment experienced maintenance delays and project deferrals due to higher refinery utilization rates that persisted from the third quarter.

U.S. refinery operators are running facilities at higher than historical utilization rates, and deferring certain projects to actively manage the opportunity costs associated with bringing assets offline. The average U.S. refinery utilization for Q4 of '18 was 93% compared to less than 90% for the previous 10-year average. Higher utilization rates and deferred maintenance lead to incremental asset wear and tear, which will ultimately drive demand for our business.

For the second year in a row, the Quest Integrity segment achieved record revenues. 2018 revenues were $97 million, a 19% increase when compared to $82 million last year. Adjusted EBITDA in 2018 was $25 million or 45% higher than the $17 million in 2017. Quest Integrity continues -- from additional offshore pipeline inspection work and growing demand for the performance assurance enabled by our proprietary tools and advanced engineering services.

I will now provide highlights on our safety performance. We are committed to achieving best-in-class safety performance. Through focused district safety audits and the deployment of our fleet monitoring systems, we decreased our recordable injuries by 21% and our TRIR by 18% when compared to the previous year.

Also, I would like to recognize our Central Division for achieving nine years without a recordable incident working over 1.8 million man-hours with a key client in Wood River, Illinois. Delivering top quartile safety and quality performance begins with investing in our industry-leading recruiting and training programs. We offer structured career development and premise programs through our world-class training facilities in Texas and the United Kingdom.

Our technical school in Texas is state accredited, offering technician and client-based training and industry learning. In 2018, through instructor-led sessions, we trained more than 2,400 employees in various programs, representing 25% of our technician workforce. The investments in safety, quality, and training, differentiate us, particularly in light of tightening labor market, pricing pressures, and recruiting challenges.

Moving on to technology. Team Digital is our proprietary platform that maximizes quality and efficiency through digitally enabled workflows. In Q4 2018, we successfully executed non-destructive inspection related projects with four clients at four new facilities and supported nine simultaneous projects. In 2018, Team Digital related revenues increased 400% from the prior year.

The digital landscape within our end markets remains dynamic. We are receiving positive customer recognition for the proven functionality and domain and technical driven applications of our platform.

I will now turn it over to Susan for a more detailed financial review, and then I will share more about our OneTEAM progress and outlook. Susan?

Susan M. Ball -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, Amerino, and good morning, everyone. As I walk through the results, I will focus on my discussions on gross margin, adjusted EBITDA, SG&A, and cash flow. Most of my comparisons will be sequential Q4 2018, as compared to Q3 2018.

Consolidated gross margin percentage in the current quarter increased by 350 basis points to 27.6% from 24.1% in Q3 2018. Consolidated gross margin increased by $15 million sequentially in Q4 2018, due primarily to the top line increase partially offset with headwinds around increased labor, materials and logistics. The incremental gross margin impact in Q4 2018 of 75% to 80% on the sequential $19 million revenue increase equates to an approximate $14 million to $16 million gross margin increase in Q4 2018, as compared to Q3 2018. Our revenue pillar under OneTEAM has begun to provide positive leverage which Amerino will discuss later.

Inspection and Heat Treating segment gross margin increased by 9%, on a 2% sequential revenue increase. Mechanical Services segment gross margin increased by 36%, on a 10% sequential revenue increase driven by demand in remedial on-stream and call-out work. Quest Integrity segment gross margin increased by 19%, on a 17% sequential revenue increase. As Amerino noted, the Quest Integrity segment delivered back-to-back record revenue years.

Consolidated adjusted EBITDA of $24.5 million in the fourth quarter increased by 540 basis points to 7.9% from 2.5% in Q3 2018, the highest fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA percentage since 2015. All three segments recorded positive sequential adjusted EBITDA growth over the third quarter of 2018.

The Inspection and Heat Treating segment Q4 2018 adjusted EBITDA percentage increased to 10.4% from 9.5% in Q3 2018 delivering $2 million or 11% sequential increase. The Mechanical Services segment Q4 2018 adjusted EBITDA percentage increased to 10.9% from 0.2% in Q3 2018 driven by top line and gross margin improvements.

Building on another record revenue year, Quest Integrity segment delivered record full year adjusted EBITDA of $25 million with Q4 2018 adjusted EBITDA of $9.7 million or 34% of revenues.

Total SG&A for the fourth quarter 2018 was $90.1 million compared to Q3 2018 of $87.8 million. There were a number of items not indicative of our core operating activities that impacted SG&A in the fourth quarter 2018, which approximated $10 million. These impacts included professional fees and related charges primarily associated with the OneTEAM initiative and other legal fees and associated costs. We also had asset write-off of $1.4 million related to dispositions of under performing districts during the quarter.

Q3 2018 impacts not indicative of our core activities approximated $6.4 million, resulting in a net SG&A sequential reduction of approximately $1 million from Q3 2018 to Q4 2018.

Full year 2018 SG&A was $361 million as compared to $348 million in 2017. 2018 SG&A was unfavorably impacted on a full year basis by an increase of bad debt expense of approximately $4.6 million, increased depreciation and amortization from the Furmanite amortization acceleration of $12 million and increased incentive compensation and non-cash stock compensation expense of $10 million as compared to full year 2017 SG&A.

Full year 2018, included cost of approximately $27 million as compared to $30 million for full year 2017, for those items not indicative of our core operating activities. As a result, year-over-year SG&A reduced by approximately $11 million, driven by the OneTEAM cost reduction pillars and our continued focus on cost rationalization.

For the full year 2018, depreciation and amortization expense was $65 million, which included the $12 million we previously spoke to an incremental expense versus 2017, due to the acceleration of the Furmanite trade name amortization, which now is fully amortized.

Interest expense net for the quarter was $8 million, and includes $1.7 million related to non-cash amortization of debt issuance costs and debt discount on the convertible debt. Cash interest expense for the fourth quarter of 2018 was approximately $6.3 million. The full year 2018 effective income tax rate approximated 31%. For 2019, we would expect a normalized tax rate of approximately 28% to 30%. The Company has domestic federal tax net operating loss carry forwards of approximately $126 million, which are available to offset future taxable income.

Turning to the balance sheet, we ended the fourth quarter 2018 with approximately $18.3 million of cash and available borrowing capacity of approximately $66 million. Our liquidity position of $84 million was up $16 million from December 31, 2017. As Amerino mentioned, we improved our senior secured leverage ratio and operating cash flow as of December 31, 2018. The senior secured leverage ratio improved sequentially to 2.6 times adjusted EBITDA, down from 3.5 times at the end of 2017.

Q4 2018 operating cash flow of $37 million represents record high quarterly operating cash flow since prior to 2016. CapEx was $8 million in Q4 2018 and $27 million year-to-date, which represents a decrease of $10 million from $37 million in 2017. Including CapEx of $8 million and the funding of the OneTEAM program, Q4 2018 free cash flow was $29 million, which was used to repay $26 million of outstanding debt in the fourth quarter of 2018.

We generated full year free cash flow of $15 million exceeding our previous expectations to close out the year with positive cash flow. As evidenced by the cash generation in Q4 2018, we remain focused on capital discipline and cash flow management and are committed to paying down debt with any free cash flow generation.

That completes the financial review. I will now turn the call back over to Amerino.

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

Thank you, Susan. Before we take your questions, I want to review the progress of our OneTEAM program and provide a market outlook.

One year ago, we rolled out the OneTEAM integration and transformation program. This program remains on track and provides us a foundation to drive sustainable, profitable growth and deliver both discrete specialized services and differentiated integrated solutions. As reported on the last call, we projected to achieve the higher end of the $8 million to $10 million of savings under the OneTEAM program in the second half of 2018.

I'm pleased to announce that we reached a total of $10.1 million of savings, including a $4.7 million contribution in the fourth quarter. We expect to ultimately deliver cost efficiencies of $35 million to $45 million annually from the two cost pillars of OneTEAM. While we have more work ahead of us to realize the full financial impact of our cost improvement pillars, these initiatives are approximately 80% to 90% complete.

We are now focused on the revenue enhancement pillar, which includes the following initiatives; contract management, improving gross margin and cross-selling. Our Commercial group has successfully completed several MSA contract negotiations with many of our large clients over the past few quarters and are actively engaged with others.

In addition, we are gaining traction with the implementation of our small client price book and released and enhanced mid-tier price book earlier in 2019. These initiatives are driving price discipline across our organization, and partially offsetting the continuing cost to serve headwinds we are experiencing.

Combined with operational improvements, these actions have delivered improved margins.

As evidenced by our Q4 '18 performance, we delivered expanded gross margin by an incremental 260 basis points on similar revenues as Q1 '18. We continue to execute on our cross-selling strategies to strengthen our integration capabilities across our client base. Our clients recognize the breadth and depth of our portfolio, enables them to consolidate services with better economics and quality.

For example, we recently completed a project for a key midstream Permian client to provide a fully integrated solution that started as a single line stop operation and expanded to two sites simultaneously including multiple disciplines within our MS and IHT segments and project management services.

Shifting to the market outlook. As we enter the first quarter, we see some demand fluctuation in our core end markets. Refineries, our largest served industry continues to experience higher than historical utilization rates, with the four-week average exceeding 95% in January. Inclement weather is also playing a role in this fluctuation, including the delay of certain projects, as temperatures plummeted well below normal levels, particularly in Canada and the Northern U.S.

Finally, earlier in the quarter, the government shutdown caused several weeks of project delays. However, we anticipate these projects will ramp up quickly as they start to come back online and recover throughout the first half of 2019. We expect our Mechanical Services segment to be back-end loaded in the second half of 2019. This is an opposite trend when compared to last year.

The current above normal refinery utilization rates increased demand for our on-stream, remedial, and emergency call-out operations. However, other MS service and product lines, which are more dependent on maintenance projects become impacted. We remain encouraged by the macroeconomic factors driving our end markets and expect these favorable market conditions, coupled with deferred maintenance projects will lead to higher spending as the year progresses.

For the company as a whole, on a full-year perspective, some projects are shifting to the right, but still within the year. Notwithstanding these current demand fluctuations, we are maintaining our projections of a 4% to 5% end market growth in 2019. We anticipate 2019 to deliver increased revenues, expanded gross margin, and higher levels of free cash flow compared to 2018. We remain on track to deliver our 2020 goals.

In closing, I would like to thank all of our employees for their dedication to our company. Together with their hard work and commitment to change, we have made significant progress and are optimistic on what the future holds for Team.

At this point, we'll be happy to take your questions.

Questions and Answers:

Operator

Thank you. (Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Tahira Afzal with KeyBanc. Your line is now open.

Tahira Afzal -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst

Thank you, and congrats to the Team. Amerino, great job done this quarter.

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

Thank you, Tahira.

Tahira Afzal -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst

I guess first question, Amerino, as we look to build out our 2019 numbers, you're still in transition. So any help on how we should think about the trajectory of maybe your EBITDA margins, as it build toward your 2020 outlook?

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

Sure. Thank you. So first of all, as I stated in the prepared remarks, we do see a back end loading primarily for our project maintenance based service and product lines in Mechanical Services. So I think when we look at H1 to H2, that's probably the biggest swing factor. We're seeing H1 turnaround season to be a lot similar to H2 of '18, and we're seeing the H2 turnaround season to be a lot more similar to H1 of '18 for the reasons of Mechanical that I just discussed.

Quest Integrity is -- continues on a good trajectory, and we expect that they're going to continue to grow throughout the year expanding to new markets like offshore, international and other integrated offerings, which they laid a good foundation for in 2018. And we expect about a 200 basis point improvement year-over-year on adjusted EBITDA percentage with the top line growth that I mentioned earlier in the range of 4% to 5% is what we see the market doing.

Now, I will state that we are becoming a lot more disciplined on top line growth, with our pricing, working closely with our customers to make sure we improve gross margin, which is one of our top priorities going into '19.

Tahira Afzal -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst

Got it. Okay. Very helpful, Amerino. And do you know with your free cash flow now becoming much more consistent which is great to see, and given your guidance on improving free cash flow, when will you guys be at a point where you can go and renegotiate some of that expensive debt?

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

So, I'm going to let Susan give you an update on that. Obviously, we were very pleased with our H2 progress on free cash flow. The Team as a whole did well, and we expect that our free cash flow will at least double from the $15 million that we achieved in 2018 going into 2019. But you know, I guess, keep in mind that as we know the cyclicality of the business could impact that quarter-to-quarter, but those are the full year type of improvements we're planning and projecting on free cash flow.

And I'll let Susan give a brief update on the capital restructuring point.

Susan M. Ball -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Yes. Hi, Tahira. Yes, as Amerino mentioned we were very pleased with the second half and fourth quarter results specifically with the free cash flow generation. And as you know, we do look to utilize free cash flow to pay down our debt. We are currently evaluating options or alternatives for looking at more cost effective and flexible debt. So looking at the capital structure currently, I am looking at probably about three different options, and we would hope that by May we will probably come to some decisions around how we move forward, and definitely with Q2, we will provide that insight. But we do have good relationships and partnerships with several banks that we have been working with over the past six weeks to eight weeks.

Tahira Afzal -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst

Very helpful, and welcome to the Team by the way Susan.

Susan M. Ball -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Craig Bibb with CJS Securities. Your line is now open.

Craig Bibb -- CJS Securities -- Analyst

Hi, guys, continue to progress. Could you talk about -- Quest obviously had a tremendous quarter, and it was on top of a tremendous quarter a year ago. The strength there is a function of what exactly -- I know that's been moving into some adjacent markets, but maybe some more detail?

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

Sure. Good morning, Craig. So, first of all, Quest continues to have a strength in terms of not only expanding in existing markets, but growing as you stated in new markets. We've talked quite a bit the last three quarters in the offshore environment. Their -- both their tool configuration, the ruggedization of the tool, the ability for it to be bifunctional in a high risk environment under high pressure and high temperature is definitely leading the way there. They were are also getting traction in terms of refineries and especially international outside the domestic world, their integrated offering of smart clean which addressed one of the highest non-productive pieces of equipment in the refinery space, which is around heaters, both cleaning, as well as being able to provide the engineered solution and analytics is helping them significantly.

And, you know, I think the biggest thing though that I'm most impressed with is the fact that they've got the foundation to deliver the operation. But putting the tools and putting the operations aside, the technical team, the domain team, the ability for them to partner with customers from early on in a project all the way through is where I think their differentiation comes. I had the opportunity last week to be in a meeting where I saw that firsthand with a client partnership.

And our bottom line here is that I think we've got a lot of strong people in a lot of strong product lines. As we continue to fine-tune the organization, we're going to continue leveraging on our technical domain and digital platforms to expand the company. And I think that's really the benefit that the Quest brings beyond just their tools.

Craig Bibb -- CJS Securities -- Analyst

Okay. And then with Team Digital, you mentioned from a small base revenues up 400%. I guess, I kind of viewed that as more of a sticky -- an effort to increase your stickiness with clients more than revenue by itself. So, could you give us little more insight there like how big can Team Digital be overtime?

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

Sure. So, I think you're exactly right. We break up our Team Digital into a couple of levels. There is what we call the digital technician, which allows us to help our technicians on more of the utilization, quality assurance, quality control side, so that we are increasing utilization and productivity -- actually utilization and we're seeing between 20% and 30% improvements there.

The stickiness with our customers comes in the form of increasing their productivity with less rework, opportunity to help manage, waiting on subcontractors for example, and delivering them standard, quality control and quality assurance that feeds their databases -- their asset integrity databases through a cloud system. So it's two parts. However, the objective we took for ourselves is, although there is the internal utilization, we want to have a key performance objective that allows us to measure how we quantify the commercial part of digital, which is -- increased 400%.

We do obviously expect to -- for that to continue to grow as a percentage of our total revenue. It does improve obviously our margins either through productivity or efficiency gains. But more importantly, the stickiness again just like Quest comes with the ability for us to sit with the customer, have better planning, have better quality assurance, and a lot less wasted non-productive and rework, and that's the model that we are following.

Craig Bibb -- CJS Securities -- Analyst

The revenue that's associated with that is sort of an upsell on services or --

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

Yes. Yes, today, it is an upsell on services. And that commercial model will continue to evolve as the program becomes more mature, we'll have various levels of commercial offerings. But yes, it is an upsell.

Craig Bibb -- CJS Securities -- Analyst

Okay. And then last one, just we're getting a little closer to IMO 2020, is that an opportunity for you guys or any impact (inaudible)?

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

So, Craig, we're not including any IMO specific 2020 increases in our budget today, and there's two reasons for that, mostly, I'm talking domestically right now. One reason is that a lot of the U.S. refineries, especially the later generation ones are already capable of handling the high sulfur input and dealing with that. And number two, we're seeing that if there is a project or capital, it's generally being lumped in with other projects and capital work.

So, it may expand the project length and a little bit of upside on revenue, but it's not to the point where we feel we've got to project that. If it does expand, it will be more of a tailwind but it's not built in necessarily to our 2020 budget, other than just through the normal project in turnaround activity.

Internationally, we're monitoring it closely to see how quickly the policies and regulations are implemented. So we're keeping our ear to the ground there, but you know that one I think we'll probably take a little bit more time in my opinion anyway to come to fruition, but I think it will give us some upside. I don't know if it will be '19 or 2020.

Craig Bibb -- CJS Securities -- Analyst

Okay. All right. Thanks a lot.

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

Thank you, Craig.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Adam Thalhimer with Thompson Davis. Your line is now open.

Adam Thalhimer -- Thompson Davis & Co. -- Analyst

Hey. Good morning, guys.

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

Good morning, Adam.

Susan M. Ball -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Hi, Adam.

Adam Thalhimer -- Thompson Davis & Co. -- Analyst

The margin improvement, you talked about the 200 basis points. I was curious, was that consolidated request?

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

The improvement from Q1?

Adam Thalhimer -- Thompson Davis & Co. -- Analyst

Sorry, EBITDA margin improvement for the full year.

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

I'm sorry. The total, the look forward. Okay. No, that's consolidated. So, as I stated, as well last quarter, we are projecting and forecasting right now at 200 basis point improvement on total company adjusted EBITDA, which obviously includes Quest as well. So, it's a combination of all three segments.

Adam Thalhimer -- Thompson Davis & Co. -- Analyst

Got it. Okay. And then do you see margins up in the first half of the year even though the revenue growth gets pushed to the back half?

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

So in terms of margin for H1, we do see it similar to what we would have delivered in H2 of last year with the improvement of the OneTEAM cost savings, if you will taking traction for the full year, including the carryover. So it will replicate more of H2 of last year with the savings of OneTEAM built in.

Adam Thalhimer -- Thompson Davis & Co. -- Analyst

Okay. And then Amerino, where are we on the Mechanical segment? The branch consolidation and kind of getting that segment to look the way you want it to look, and where are we in that process?

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

So, I would say, for Mechanical, specifically we're probably in the mid-50% range of getting it to look the way we want. I like -- I'll tell you what I like that we've done, we've got a lot better visibility on projects driven product lines versus call-out and emergency remedial product lines. So that visibility is helping us manage the business stronger.

We've shut down some under-performing businesses in the range of $5 million to $8 million, which as you -- as Susan stated, we took some asset writedowns there. We've got the Mechanical and Inspection and Heat Treating now being managed at a divisional level under one management organization.

And lastly, we're coming to the end or near the end of improving our manufacturing capabilities with higher-end equipment to bring down manufacturing costs. So I think we're probably 50% there, where I still see opportunities is the cross-selling and pull-through with Inspection, because we have a lot invested revenue and activity when it comes to Inspection.

So, I think, we're not yet clicking on all cylinders when it comes to that. And the other thing is, I think that our portfolio mix of Mechanical Services between nested or embedded call-out and projects is not yet as strong as inspection, and that's going to take a little bit of time, which is why we see a little bit more of cyclicality in Mechanical than IHT.

So that will take us a bit of time, but I would say, Adam, we're in that 50% range right now of getting it to where we want it to be, and you saw in H1 of last year, when it's clicking, it's accretive to our business. So it fits well. We just got to make sure commercially we're leveraging the rest of the business to pull through.

Adam Thalhimer -- Thompson Davis & Co. -- Analyst

Okay. Super helpful. Thanks, Amerino.

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. (Operator Instructions) Our next question comes from Martin Malloy with Johnson Rice. Your line is now open.

Martin Malloy -- Johnson Rice & Co. -- Analyst

Congratulations on the cash flow generation during the quarter.

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

Thank you, Martin.

Martin Malloy -- Johnson Rice & Co. -- Analyst

First question was -- first question, I just want to query about the pricing, and how those conversations are going with clients given the labor environment, are we expecting that over the course of the year, we're going to start to see the impact of the new short-term contracts with the medium-sized clients and the MSAs with the larger clients impacting margins and the revenue side?

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

Yes. So, Marty, I think the short answer to your question is yes. We've broken up our action plans into three buckets. The MSA contracts are taking some time and they are more terms and condition discussions versus rewriting the whole contract. And the reason for that is, we've got a very strong customer base. We're diversified, we have less than 5% of revenue that comes from any one customer.

So we are having the one-on-ones, and we're showing a lot of our training commitments, our cost base is going up. So those are more one-on-ones, and we've successfully closed a handful. And as I stated, we're still in negotiations with others.

When it comes to small and mid-tier, we are taking a bit more of a priceless model there, so introducing a price book and allowing our divisions and our districts to manage that more at the coalface by giving them gross margin ranges that they can play within to get more project discipline. So, doesn't mean that we walk away, but there's escalation methods if they want to raise an exception, et cetera. But it's just a lot more structured and we feel that's our most effective way when we break it up into those few buckets.

And to answer your question specifically, part of our margin improvement year-over-year will come from pricing, which is why we want to be disciplined on the revenue we take staying close to our customers when it comes to project planning. So we don't get dilutive type impacts. But yes, we expect the benefit on pricing to start to trickle in through the second half of the year.

Martin Malloy -- Johnson Rice & Co. -- Analyst

Okay. And then a question for you Susan. On the working capital, how should we look at that trending through the courses this year? Are there further opportunities to reduce the net working capital?

Susan M. Ball -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Yes. So you'll see and you did probably see in earnings tables that reduction of some current assets, but we are very focused on the accounts receivable collections, and I would say, that we would continue to see an improvement in our reduction where we bring that cash in. Additionally, we're focused on inventory, and so overall there was, I believe, around $30 million -- $20 million to $30 million reduction. And I would -- we are focused on continuing to reduce that by at least that much in 2019.

Martin Malloy -- Johnson Rice & Co. -- Analyst

Great. I'll get back in queue. Thank you.

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And I am showing no further questions in queue at this time. I'd like to turn -- pardon me, we have a follow-up from Martin Malloy from Johnson Rice. Your line is open once again.

Martin Malloy -- Johnson Rice & Co. -- Analyst

Short queue.

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

Yes. Welcome back.

Martin Malloy -- Johnson Rice & Co. -- Analyst

On the Quest segment in terms of new products and services that you're introducing there, could you may be talk a little bit about some of the new products and services you're working on that are introduced into the market?

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

Sure. So, I think, the main thing we're doing is continuing to expand our investor line, both in terms of catalog and size, durability and functionality of that line to work at different pressures, allow it to have longer runs, based on life of the tool and the power sources. So that's a big part of the expansion, but more importantly, I think reaching smaller sizes allows us to play in some of these markets like offshore. And just so I'm clear, the In-line Inspection markets, the Quest is playing in especially when you get to some of the smaller sizes is generating or it's creating new market.

We weren't able to inspect those type of lines especially some of the offshore smaller diameter lines until we've partnered with one of our customers and clients to develop that technology. So that's kind of the tool piece. More importantly though the measurements of the tool is giving us higher resolution. So, generation one was about a 10x resolution improvement versus what the market had, and generation two and three will be more 100x resolution. So we're able to see wall thickness and different anomalies to different metallurgy including heavy wall pipe.

So, again, those are the things we're doing from a product development. So we do, we are investing in R&D in that front. The other big one is linking more of their products and services to an integrated offering, which is what I mentioned earlier, around things like heaters which is high non-productive time being able to go in and assess the damage, go in and clean the damage, and then be able from a time perspective continue inspection, so they're not causing additional damage, but also not adding downtime to their operation.

So that's more of the integrated solution piece. And then we're expanding our advanced engineering and lab support, to support overall, the higher-end services that we provide and products that we provide, and that's generally working Marty with the subject matter experts within our clients. So, our new model aligns very well with that, and I think that is how we build longer term partnerships, and we're part of the solution with our customer.

Martin Malloy -- Johnson Rice & Co. -- Analyst

And is there any help you can give us in terms of thinking about the size of the addressable market with some of these advancements?

You know, I think the In-line Inspection market is fairly well documented for the general market, and that creates a bit of a foundation for this In-line Inspection market, which is around $1 billion. But we don't necessarily play in that part of it, which is why we still have the ability to grow offshore and some of these other places that are creating new market, and that hasn't been captured in more of the public data that you're seeing.

So, we are doing our own market assessments and projections. But what I'm most excited about is the fact that we're able to create that new market where there is less competition for our services and our engineering. So that kind of gives you a benchmark of what the public data is, but we really play in the top end of that market.

Okay. Thank you.

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. We have a follow-up question from Craig Bibb with CJS Securities. Your line is now open.

Craig Bibb -- CJS Securities -- Analyst

Hi. I guess two follow-ups. One, when you guys -- your presentations, you always show power as being a very large market, we have a pretty small piece of, I know, you're planning to grow and power, is there 2019-2020 where do we stand with that?

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

So I think there is a few markets wide power and pipeline, Craig, where we've got playbooks that we're creating now to expand further into those markets. I think it's going to depend a little bit on the pricing levels as well as the labor pool. So I think as a percentage, I don't think it's going to swing double in one or two years, but we want to put the foundation in place to better diversify our portfolio, maintaining our strength in refining, capturing petrochemical through the capital projects and then expanding into some of the less cyclical business like power, building off what we have, aerospace building off we have, and pipeline right now is definitely one of the largest growing segments as a percentage or sectors.

So, those are things we're going to do. What I don't want to take away from those, the fact that we're still one year into our OneTEAM integration and transformation program. So that's what we're focused on first through most of 2020 while we laid the foundation out for better diversity going forward.

Craig Bibb -- CJS Securities -- Analyst

Okay. And then, I guess, it's always helpful, and maybe for ending restate your goals for 2020. I remember, we're looking at 200 basis points in the EBITDA margin this year, and of course, they go on.

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

So we're -- we finished '18 right in the 5.7% to 5.8% range. We are projecting to add 200 basis points going into '19 through the gross margin, some growth in revenue and some of the costs that will carry forward. And then in 2020, we're maintaining our 10% to 12% adjusted EBITDA range. And again, as we continue the cost pillars and bring in the revenue pillar, that's the plan in place and that's what we're maintaining.

And probably a little bit to expand on the cash flow. The $15 million in '18 we do based on the working capital that Susan talked about earlier. We're going to push ourselves to get that closer to $30 million in '19, and then obviously continue improving that. That's a big focus for us in '19 and '20. So we're going to may be laser focused on free cash flow.

Craig Bibb -- CJS Securities -- Analyst

Great. All right. Thanks a lot.

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And I'm showing no further questions in queue at this time. I'd like to turn the call back over to management for any closing remarks.

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

Thank you. Once again, I would like to thank everyone for joining us on the call today, and your continued interest in Team. We do look forward to speaking with you again next quarter.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude your program, and you may all disconnect. Everyone have a great day.

Duration: 51 minutes

Call participants:

Don Bleasdell -- Vice President, Finance

Amerino Gatti -- Chief Executive Officer & Director

Susan M. Ball -- Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Tahira Afzal -- KeyBanc Capital Markets -- Analyst

Craig Bibb -- CJS Securities -- Analyst

Adam Thalhimer -- Thompson Davis & Co. -- Analyst

Martin Malloy -- Johnson Rice & Co. -- Analyst

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